Butterfly Kisses
by windscryer
Summary: Shawn shares special moments with his daughter. Futurefic. Shules.
1. Make It All Better

Three stories, all inspired by MusicalLuna and each further inspired by a song.

NOT SONG FICS. NOT EXACTLY ANYWAY.

Disclaimer: If they were mine we'd actually meet this little girl one day. Since it's not we won't. Sorry. Complain to TPTB if it bothers you that much. :D

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Based on Luna's mini-challenge to me and the song 'Butterfly Kisses' as sung by Bob Carlisle. If you know it not, go find it. It iz teh AWESOME.

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The breeze played softly through the leaves, filling the air with the woodwind accompaniment to the piano melody and percussion background of children laughing and playing.

Colors flashed and bobbed and weaved as the little ones wearing them did the same in the magical world of infinite possibility known as the playset at the park.

The adults lounged on the fringes, content to savor a few moments of relaxation outside of the frenetic pace of keeping up with a toddler or elementary schooler.

Under one tree a man stood alone, his stance casual as he leaned against the rough bark, his clothes just in fashion enough to make some of the nannies gossip about why he was hanging out _here_.

One or two had considered calling the cops, but he wasn't doing anything and really, with that soft smile on his lips as he watched the kids play he seemed rather harmless.

If he did anything but watch, there would very quickly be a flurry of activity at the police dispatch . . . otherwise they would give him the benefit of the doubt and let him be.

And then it happened.

Like the discordant note in a symphony that warned of danger to the hero, a shrill chord broke the idyllic scene.

All adult eyes and more than a few of the children's went to the source, a small girl dressed in blue overalls with a sunflower embroidered on the bib and pink sneakers. She sat below the monkey bars in the dip that puddled when it rained, holding her leg at the knee with tears streaming down her face.

Before most people had pinpointed her or even truly registered what was going on, the solitary watcher was there, crouched by her side and gently lifting her leg to inspect her ankle.

Cell phones were whipped out and fingers went to speed dials when he scooped her up, but when she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face against the crook there was hesitation.

He carried her to an empty picnic table, seemingly oblivious to the rapt audience watching his every move.

Setting her down gently on the table he straddled the bench and started to undo her laces. She was talking, explaining tearfully what had happened, and he listened attentively, easing the shoe and sock off and rolling up the cuff of her pants.

He inspected her ankle with what was obviously some experience, then lifted it up and brushed a kiss on it.

She giggled and the fingers on phone buttons relaxed, more than a few of the devices disappearing once more.

Then he turned her foot up and kissed the sole with a smile and she giggled again and gave him a playful smack.

He feigned injury, then stood and snatched her up, tickling her mercilessly as she giggled with abandon.

The last of the phones vanished and attention drifted back to the children playing.

Only one or two saw him settle the girl on his hip, then pick up the sock and shoe and head to a car parked along the road.

None of them heard her question.

"Daddy? Why was everyone staring at you?"

He just smiled.

"Because with a daughter as beautiful as you I must be the luckiest guy in the world."

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Okay now, srsly, who didn't just melt at that?

Review please and thank you!


	2. Every Single One Is Precious

Same as before on challenge, song is 'Streets of Heaven' by Sherrie Austin.

This is the potential **Tear Jerker**. You've been warned.

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The room was quiet this time of day.

He slipped in silently, setting his gift on the bedside table where it would be seen as soon as she awakened.

A single sunflower in a plain clear vase . . . it was so inadequate . . . so much less than he wanted to give her . . . so much less than she deserved . . . but it was what she wanted and so he'd done it, without hesitation, without even really thinking about it.

He'd buy a thousand if it would help.

But it couldn't.

Nothing he could do could help her now.

He stood for a few moments more, then settled into the chair next to her bed, listening to the soft beep of the heart monitor.

He both hated and loved that sound.

It was wrong. She shouldn't need it, shouldn't know what it sounded like.

But as long as it beeped, his little girl was still here with him and he hadn't lost her yet.

Lacing his fingers into a white knuckled ball he rested his elbows on his knees and leaned forward to rest his head on top.

He wasn't a religious man, but right now he almost wished he was. It would be nice to know there was Someone who could do what he couldn't.

He watched with a certain amount of detached fascination as small dark spots bloomed on his jeans. He frowned, confused by their appearance, until he realized he was crying.

He sat up quickly and wiped at the tears, sniffling back the accompanying snot and hoping in a vain way that no one had seen that momentary lapse of control.

"Daddy?"

The soft voice from the bed had him leaping to his feet and almost falling onto the bed in his haste to close the distance.

"Hey there, Baby," he said, tucking some hair behind her ear. "How do you feel?"

She took a moment to think, then answered, blinking sleepily, "'M not so hot anymore."

He smiled, trying to keep the tears in check, but not doing very well.

"Good. That's good." And it was.

But it was only a step in the right direction and they had many more before they left this stretch of dark woods.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah?"

"It rained today."

"It did," he agreed.

"Did that ruin the tracks?"

He laughed wetly, both heartened and saddened by her focus on the case they'd been working on.

She was just seven, but had proved an aptitude for following in her father's 'psychic' footsteps that surpassed even his own abilities. There were times that Shawn himself would have sworn she wasn't playacting.

Not that any of them wanted a seven-year-old involved in police work, but she wanted it and she was also more stubborn than her father and her mother combined.

Despite their best efforts she kept getting involved—though thankfully not on anything really scarring for a young child. Mostly white collar crimes and the occasional missing dog or kitten.

She'd been in the newspaper twice, though always listed as an unnamed police consultant since no one was willing to make her a target like her father was on occasion—especially after that one nosy reporter had found themselves on the receiving end of what _could_ be interpreted as a lethal glare from Officer Buzz McNabb.

No one dared even inquire after that.

Shawn had even joked about putting a tag on the agency window to include her somehow—anonymously of course.

If she got past this he swore he would.

"They did. They filled up and made puddles. But Detective Lassie had the CSU guys out there yesterday to get casts so it's okay."

She nodded. "Good." Her eyes drifted closed and he waited a few minutes for her breathing to even out.

Once it had he bent and dropped a kiss on her forehead.

She shifted slightly. "Love you, Daddy," she breathed, then settled down again.

He smiled. "Love you, Baby," he whispered.

He retook his seat next to her bed, making himself as comfortable as he could for the night. Obligations called to him, things he needed to do, cases he needed to solve, and he'd get to them in the morning.

But right here and now there was nowhere more important for him to be.

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Sorry. I tried to keep it from getting too dark. Did I succeed?

Let me know. Review please and thank you.


	3. Quite Continental

Same as before on the challenge, song is 'I Loved Her First' by Heartland.

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It had rained that morning, was still raining in fact, and more than a few of the guests were eying the weather with alarm and whispering about bad luck.

The young woman who was the center of attention, however, was smiling.

She wasn't oblivious to what was going on outside the windows. She'd had to lift her massive skirt and jump a puddle to get inside after all.

Having to resist the urge to land _in_ the puddle had been the only bad part about it so far.

All of her life she had been told she was the very image of her mother and had her father's spirit. Neither was necessarily said in compliment, but she always took it that way.

That was just the kind of person she was, and it showed in all she did.

Her bouquet had been a single sunflower, large and unorthodox, but appropriate nevertheless.

To the guests who'd expressed concerns about the rain she'd said simply that it was the angels weeping with joy for her today.

She was currently standing with her family and her beloved, thanking each person individually and sincerely, for their presence here. To listen to her, you'd think _they_ were the guest of honor.

And then the band started the first strains of the song she'd picked out.

It was one of her very favorites and she'd refused to even consider another for this special number.

Turning to the man on her right whose smile was identical to hers, she slipped her hand in his. He looked at her and she nodded to the dance floor.

With a courtly bow that had taken him weeks to perfect for just this moment, he kissed her knuckles, then extended a hand to indicate she should go first.

The dance floor was cleared and they took up positions in the center.

He took the first step and she followed precisely, a credit to the years of dancing lessons she'd taken since childhood.

"Daddy," she asked softly, "why is everyone staring at you?"

He smiled and chuckled. "Because if I'm dancing with you right now, then I must be the luckiest guy in the world."

She chuckled in response.

"Some would say that title belongs to someone else in the room today."

He shook his head and spun her out.

"They're wrong."

Spinning back she retook her place in his arms, then cocked her head. "Why?"

"Because he had to wait twenty-five years and will always have to share you. For those same twenty-five years I had you all to myself. And I loved you first."

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That's it. The end. Sorry. But it was good, right? :D

Let me know. Review please and thank you.


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